Mt Woodroffe, #7 of the State 8

Is it OCD? That sees a list of the eight highest peaks in Australia's states and territories and then wants to tick them all off? Maybe. This one, Mt Woodroffe - South Australia's highest peak - was my number seven, of eight, the so-called State 8, or Aussie 8. Apparently I'm not alone in my affliction, there were 28 other people booked onto this tour.

SUMMARY - Mt Woodroffe climb/hike
Duration	1 day hike (3 day trip)
Start/end	Ngarutjara (3 day trip to/from Uluru)
Friday	Drive from Yulara, Uluru, to Ngarutjara camp (base of mountain)
Saturday	Hike up Mt Woodroofe (Ngarutjaranya) 1435m
Sunday	Drive from Ngarutjara camp (base of mountain) back to Yulara, Uluru
Area	APY Lands (permit required)
Bookings	Diverse Travel Australia, SEIT Outback Australia
Topographic Maps	1:250 000 Mt Woodroffe SG52-12: printed map, on-demand 1:100 000 print, free download (official map)

The only way to access Mt Woodroffe, in the remote APY Lands in northern SA, was via a tour group. Once a year they run a trip in, and it's the only one with permission from the Traditional Aboriginal Owners to do so. It's also rare for them to give anyone else permission, so the tour is the most practical way to do it. It makes Mt Woodroffe the most difficult of the State 8 to organise.

With the permission in mind, at our camp on the first night near the foot of the mountain, we were visited by Lee, one of the Custodians. As can happen in these situations, we took him all a bit too seriously, almost missing his first joke and his fine sense of humour.

When he first sat by the fire, he took his shoe off to warm his foot, complaining about the severe pain in his foot that a heel spur was giving him. Of course we doubted - I can hear your mocking cries now - that he would make it to the top of Mt Woodroffe. We were equipped with all our expensive hiking gear, when he looked more like he had come from fixing a car (he had, as it turned out). Of course, how wrong we were, it was Lee who led the charge up the first steep waterfall rockface. Few followed up the waterfall though, preferring to pick an easier route over a gung-ho approach. There was no doubt that Lee got into as much mischief now as he did when he was a ten year old boy.

Later Lee's father, aged 82, arrived. It quickly became apparent that he would talk in exchange of cups of tea, and if the tea disappeared so would he. He talked with a hint of humour in his slow words. He'd only been learning English in the last 10 years, evidently taught by the many school girls that came out here on school trips (SEIT tours core business is ten-day school Aboriginal cultural camps, this being one the campsites they use for that). I'm not sure how much that skewed his vocabulary, but in exchange he would teach them his language.

On our first day, after arriving at camp, we were taught how to not use the supplied swag, and a discussion ensued about the wisdom of camping in the creek bed, with it soft sand and shade. Normally, of course, this is a poor decision - to camp in a creekbed - but when you can see the headwaters, just a mere 7km away up the mountain, it's pretty safe to camp, even in a wide creek. I've done it before when the headwaters can be seen. If it rains, and especially if it rains a lot, then it's time to move. Pretty hard to miss rain in a swag.

We drove over to the foot of the mountain, to assess routes to hike and climb up the following day. Being a rogainer, I was already formulating a few options into plans, and on the drive closer was able to clarify some of them. At the foot, with most of the mountain obscured behind the immediate base, advice was given as to the easiest routes, and as to where the harshest spinifex lay.

Before dawn the following day, we drove back to the base and at first light set out. It was a case of each to their own, or better still, in small groups. A few set out directly from the cars with a short but sweet route, a straight up the mountain. It was a route plotted through the harshest spinifex, but nonetheless a sound route. Most others followed Lee to the waterfall rockface, before quickly dispersing by a variety of routes. For a while there it looked like we would find about 29 different routes up the mountain. I took a gentle route around the waterfall, taking my plotted course up to the ridge in the east, before hiking up the long spur to the summit. It was the easier route, relatively free of spinifex, and easy to navigate. Although I got to the top first, even having taken the longest route, I had hiked alone, and no doubt that allowed for some speed. It was just seven minutes later that the next group arrived, having taken the most direct route up from the cars.

For all my efficiency and speed in getting to the top quickly and with minimal spinifex injuries, I must have banged my head on the way down - maybe I should wear a safety helmet on such climbs - for I momentarily lost my mind. I decided against taking the three additional people now hiking with me along the long distance ridge, and decided on a shortcut down. Ricky, perhaps sensibly, decided to hike on along the ridge to the western end and it's unnamed summit. It wasn't long down our shortcut that it became obvious - this was no shortcut, and indeed, it took us longer to complete then the distant route. Thankfully I brought those three companions to share the misery of my foolishness. Ricky, having completed his second peak climb, caught up with us near the base. So much for our shortcut. Encouragingly, it seemed that everyone was slower on the trip down, compared to their trip up.

The view from the top took in distant Uluru and Kata Tjuta, some 130km away across the NT border. The Musgrave Ranges spread out to the east and west, a mess of scraggly mountains. Many South Australians don't know what lies up here, thinking that St Mary Peak in the Flinders Ranges, on the Wilpena Pound rim, is the highest peak in South Australia. It's not. Here in the Musgrave Ranges lie 21 mountains over 1,000 metres, and the top seven mountains of the State. St Mary Peak comes in as the 8th highest. Mt Woodroffe rises 680 metres above the surrounding plains.

An old stone surveyor's cairn marks the top of the mountain. A famous photo, taken in 1933, with three Pitjantjatjara guides, shows how the cairn originally appeared. The mountain was named after George Woodroffe Goyder, the 1857 South Australian Surveyor General highly regarded - at least now anyway - for his work in establishing what became known as Goyders Line, the line across the state that marks arable farming land from that which is not sustainable farming land. He was mocked at the time, but hey, at least there's the odd thing around the state named in his honour.

My skills in the exploration of the stone cairn fell well short of my skills displayed in getting up the mountain, and it was someone else who found the logbook in a rusted old can buried deep in the stone cairn. The word 'logbook' is a somewhat generous description, it was almost entirely a collection of rotten indecipherable paper fragments, with the odd modern addition of single pieces of paper. Why some people feel the need to describe the 'marvelous' or 'spectacular view' they saw is beyond me, it's really quite self evident to others who have managed to get there to read the logbook. Anyone with the misfortune of climbing in poor weather, which really is misfortune in Central Australia's stable weather, would hardly find enlightenment with the description of the view in the few moments they spent huddled on the leeward side of the stone cairn before heading back down.

With 29 people on our tour, every one of them made it to the top of Mt Woodroffe that day. Whilst it's cliched to say "there's one in every crowd", it was nonetheless true. If there is one thing more fun than 29 people on a tour, it's this: 29 people offering advice to the one person who is scruffing around in the red dust under the vehicle with a car jack replacing a blown tyre. That wasn't quite true, we had two vans and a ute for the tour, so whilst there were plenty offering advice, it wasn't quite as bad as 29 people. It was a big tour group, I had been warned when I booked that if the tour didn't reach the minimum of four people, it would be cancelled. Last year it was cancelled, with just two bookings.

So in my State 8 pursuit I've been all around the country and found many hiking places to return to. My first peak, Mt Ossa, in Tasmania was mostly accidental, a side trip on the Overland Track. I almost gave up climbing it too, if it hadn't been for Tim's enthusiasm. Now five years later, only one remains. A crazy plan is in place to complete it - Queensland's Bartle Frere. We shall see my friend, we shall see.

View photo album in Google Plus (9 photos).

More photos to come

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My State 8 (Aussie 8)

The highest peak in each Australian state and territory:

1. Mt Kosciuszko, New South Wales (NSW), 2228m, March 2012
2. Mt Bogong, Victoria (VIC), 1985m, March 2012
3. Bimberi Peak, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), 1913m, March 2012
4. Bartle Frere, Queensland (QLD), 1622m, NOT YET DONE, June 2013?
5. Mt Ossa, Tasmania (TAS), 1617m, December 2008
6. Mt Zeil, Northern Territory (NT), 1531m, July 2012 (first attempt August 2011)
7. Mt Woodroffe, South Australia (SA), 1435m, May 2013
8. Mt Meharry, Western Australia (WA), 1252m, June 2010

Black Magic on Wilpena Pound's Peaks

A bushfire back in January cleared the way for us to tackle some of Wilpena Pound's peaks - this time Mt Karawarra, Point Bonney and Tumburru Peak. Previously the vegetation was so dense it was a difficult 1km/h, but now that fire had blackened the landscape we could get in.

SUMMARY - Wilpena Pound peaks
Duration	3 days
Start/end	Wilpena Pound Resort/General Store
Friday	Wilpena to Hills Homestead for water, on to base (1h45m). Base to Mt Karawarra (1109m) and return 4 hours
Saturday	Base camp to Point Bonney (1133m) 2 hrs, along ridge to Tumburru Peak 1hr, return to base camp via deep gorge 4 hrs
National Park	Flinders Ranges National Park

We weren't certain how much had been burnt, despite the fire maps we had, or how clear the vegetation now was. Numerous previous trips had shown that the vegetation on the Pound walls, including on this southern side, meant walking was slowed to 1km/h and was tough going.

From the pound floor it took 90 minutes to reach the summmit of Mt Karawarra, despite the burnt vegetation not being as extensive as the fire map detailed. It wasn't until the following day, when looking at Mt Karawarra from Point Bonney, did we really appreciate just how steep Mt Karawarra really was.

We base camped on the pound floor, enjoying each other's company each night. We shared stories around our small fire, and exchanged gear talk (a favourite of hiker's everywhere). Tim mixed and baked a carrot cake on his wood burning emberlit, promising a self-saucing chocolate cake next time! We shared wine, crackers and blue cheese. Inadvertently we later shared the blue cheese with an inquisitive wallaby or goat, but they showed no interest in our rocket and basil dip.



On the second day we climbed up Point Bonney, skipping past Iluka Hill, saving it for another day. Simon and Vicki had previously climbed it, it was a relatively easy climb from the outside. It's true, I had been up it twice before, and failed in both attempts due to time constraints, but this time it was better left for later. At the summit of Point Bonney we found the logbook, with just 32 entries over 20 years. One entry from this year, one from 2010, one from 2008, 2006 and 2003. That dense vegetation kept people away.

The rock slab cliffs beneath the peak were enormous and dramatic, and a stark contrast to the gentler slopes inside the pound. We lunched at Tumburru Peak overlooking the cliffs.

Walking down from Tumburru Peak we descended quickly to a creek below, pushing our way through the burnt out sticks of the vegetation. It's hard to imagine getting through this vegetation at all prior to the fire. We dropped into a deep gorge we had been eyeing off for a while. It had escaped the fire, was shielded by high rock walls and filled with boulders and rock pools. Kate nearly stepped on a colourful long snake, which wasn't particularly aggressive, and later identification from parks staff confirmed it as a carpet snake.

On Sunday we walked back out from our base camp, partaking in more than one icecream on our journey home, spending an pleasant hour in the courtyard of the Cradock Hotel for lunch.

View in full screen format Download GPX file of the Mt Karawarra, Point Bonney and Tumburru Peak hike - for use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit Download KML file of the Mt Karawarra, Point Bonney and Tumburru Peak hike - view in Google Earth

25 hours hiking? Why not!

A 25-hour hiking race? Why not! We'd done a 12-hour and 6-hour rogaine, so now a 25-hour challenge. Rogaining is a team sport which involves cross country navigation and strategy. This time it was up in the forest and scrub of Wirrabara and Kate joined our team, bringing along her navigation prowess.

Rogaine, Wirrabara Forest

Our route marked with a red line (we travelled clockwise).
View larger map

While studying the map and planning our route in the hours before the rogaine, I made the comment that the scrub near the ridge line was, from memory, pretty thick. A big bushfire had burnt through much of the area in May, so we were hoping this would have cleared some of the dense ridge. It had, leaving a loose, sandy and rocky surface that was still hard to climb. Not all was clear though, through the untouched native scrub we managed about 1km/h, and gained lots of scratches for our efforts. We were pretty relieved when we finally made the ridge with its road!

On our way through the scrub, we spied a girl waiting on a distant hill, apparently for the rest of her team. But not so, over the other side some ten minutes later, we found a single person – this is a team sport btw – asking whether we might have seen a girl in a blue top! We had of course, but on the other side of the hill. A wee bit silly that they got separated, we met up with them later that night and they had spent an hour and a half finding each other.

We tackled the higher ridge and scrub in the daylight first, returning after dark via the lower forest with its gentle hills, open forest and easy to navigate service tracks.

A couple of the controls (point markers) were over the other side of the ridge, which meant climbing back up to the ridge again afterwards. That was a bit tough! At one control, number 71, we spent some time discussing where we thought we were, and each of our interpretations of the topographic map. Down we went, but we certainly weren’t coming back up the same way, pleasantly open that it was, we skirted across the side of the ridge to another track.

Seven hours into the rogaine we watched the sun set from the ridgeline, exchanging tips with teams coming the other way.

In the darkness we descended off the ridge and back into the forest, armed with our head torches of various brightnesses, and the full moon. At the furthest point from the Hash House – the base of the rogaine – we sat down at a picnic table on the summit of Mt Ellen and had a moonlit picnic. From here we trundled back to the Hash House, thinking of the enormity of our plan which still required a three-hour walk back to the Hash House base when we were dead tired.

At 2am we sat down for some hot food and in front of the warm fire at the Hash House in Wirrabara’s old schoolhouse.

Armed with four hours sleep, and with the warm sun up, we returned to our rogaining. This time we planned a shorter route, with more options to return early - and most of all - an easy walking route. We were back at ten past 11 in the morning, with 50 minutes to spare. We weren’t keen to climb a nearby scrub hill to fill our last 50 minutes, we were all limping in one form or another.

We scored 1760 points, covering 63km, and came 7th overall, and 4th in the mixed category. We spent 15 hours on Saturday, 11am to 2am (49km), and 3 hours out on Sunday morning (14km).

View all results on the SA Rogaining website.

Nakun Kungun Trail, Coorong

Looking. Listening. These are the catchcry words of the Nakun Kungun Trail, a 27km hiking trail through the Coorong.

SUMMARY - Nakun Kungun Trail, Coorong (sometimes spelt Nukan Kungun) - a two day weekend hike with the Adelaide Bushwalkers (ABW)
Trailheads	Salt Creek in the north, 42 Mile Crossing picnic area/campsite in the south
Friday night campsite	Campsites at the northern end of Loop Road, 1km from Salt Creek
Saturday	Campsite (near northern end of Loop Road) to free-camp near the southern end of Loop Road - 13km/5hrs
Sunday	Loop Road to 42 Mile Crossing picnic area, with sidetrip further out to Coorong beach (9.5km/2.5hrs + 3.2km)
National Park	Coorong National Park
Nearest town	Salt Creek, consisting of petrol station
Campsites	Official campsite near Salt Creek (toilet in picnic area) and 42 Mile Crossing (toilets in picnic area). Free camping permitted along trail.

Saturday morning our walk leader, Kate, spotted a Mallee Fowl, or possibly, as she conceded, “a wild chicken”. It seemed most likely to be the Mallee Fowl, endemic to this area, there were plenty of interpretive signs about them. Tellingly perhaps, no-one else saw the encounter. Kate was, as a birdwatching expert, her own downfall. On the drive home she spotted a similar creature scurrying near the roadside, and upon consulting her bird book deemed it to be hen of some sort (she did know the sort, I just don’t recall it).

Invitations to explore one of the many large wombat holes to find their happy inhabitants were quietly declined. No matter, eventually we came across a shy wombat, who had curiously made its burrow under some timber decking at an historic site. It would seem not many people passed this way, despite this particular area being signposted from the bitumen road.

Later we spotted an echidna, who shyly crawled under a bush and curled into a ball.

We saw many birds, including hooded red robins playing on fences, but not being on the shore, few pelicans.

So our looking and listening did pay off.

What we didn’t see was much of the Coorong. Although the trail follows the Coorong it does so at a quiet distance, only at its very southern end does it venture near the sand dunes or the shore line. There it also makes its passage over the water via the 42 Mile Crossing.

On Saturday, after setting up our campsite near the southern end of Loop Road, we set off bush bashing to find the illusive Coorong shore. In windy conditions we found the body of water choppy, and far too wide to attempt to cross.

On Sunday, beyond the picnic area at 42 Mile Crossing we battled the wind and brief driving rain to cross the seemingly endless dunes to reach the coast. The waves were being lashed by the wind and the strong waves were eroding the beach. It was, as this beach often is, spectacular.

We were disappointed that following the trail meant we infrequently visited or caught glimpses of the Coorong and its distant sand dunes, but the looking and listening was rewarded with some great wildlife sightings. For the most part the trail passes between the main bitumen highway and the dirt Loop Road, with the Coroong water and iconic Younghusband Peninsula further west. Only infrequently did we hear or catch glimpses of the roads. The trail passes beside many shallow lakes, which are separate from the main Coorong water body. During drier times these would be dry salt pans.

The trail is reasonably well maintained, and is signposted, but isn’t well travelled, so occasionally we did loose sight of the trail. Doing so wasn’t unpleasant, the areas were often covered with fine green grass. Often when we misplaced the trail we followed the tyre prints from a recent ATV vehicle, presumably from a maintenance ranger. Without that I think we would have spent much more time wandering the scrub.

View photos on Google+.

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Dibber Dobber Dabber

Well no-one dibber dobbed, but we did finish off our three day trek hiking up Mt Dib and Mt Dab, and um, Dob, and a little of Deb. Leaving our campsite, we started our summit attempt on Mt Dab, until it became clear it was Deb, or at least not Dib or Dab. Progressing across the saddle to Mt Dab, then onto Mt Dib, which was most certainly Mt Dab... oops. Every time we reached a summmit we saw another, readjusting our minds to exactly which ones were Mt Dib and Mt Dab.

SUMMARY - Aroona Valley to Blinman Pools, return via Wild Dog Creek
Start	Aroona Valley Campsite
End	Aroona Valley Campsite
First Night	The Cascades
Second Night	Pigeon Bore
Time	3 days
Distance	57km

It wasn't the only navigational challenge we experienced, but our uncertainty added minimal distance to our three day trek. Navigation across the landscape is an element that makes a trek so good, opening up the possibilities of where we could go. Camping at The Cascades, a cross-country hike to Blinman Pools, hiking through the Wild Dog Creek canyon and summiting Mt Dib and Dab were the highlights of the weekend.



When we reached the Cascades mid-afternoon on Saturday, it was clear, even without a vote, that no-one was keen to continue on that afternoon to Blinman Pools. The Cascades were beautiful, it was clear, flowing water, the first water we had seen in a creek. Even more amazing, just a few hundred metres upstream, the creek was dry. The source was a spring - the water was warm, and there was plenty of it. We enjoyed our early camp with a camp fire and salmon and soft cheese crackers. Following the previous night's late arrival by bus, and our day's 20km hike, we retired early, to our already icy tents.

Sunday morning was cold, very cold, minus three. In the cold we set off with our daypacks, armed with Kate's 1:33 333 map and landscape familiarity from a recent rogaine, crossing the countryside to Blinman Pools. There was plenty of water in the pools, a stark contrast to what I saw when I was last here in the drought during 2007 - no horizon pool back then. The large, deep pool was irrestible, Ros and I jumped in for a swim - maybe the wrong verb, it was very cold, an instant brain freeze, so we scrambled out pretty quick.

We returned to our now dry tents, grabbing our packs and trying our hand at some creek navigation, always difficult in the Flinders Ranges. We lunched in a creek bed, each of us with varying degrees of lunch envy, before walking through Wild Dog Creek and onto the Heysen Trail, wandering south to Pigeon Bore. We made it in late, just after sunset, just managing to set up our tents before seeking out our torches.

We joined two other ABW groups around the fire, sharing our last rations of alcohol and chocolate.

Early on Monday, five dedicated walkers of the 12 strong group tackled Dib and Dab. We were rewarded with spectacular views of the Heysen Range, Wilpena Pound, and the landscape east all the way to Patawarta, all soaked in the early morning sun.

Maybe some more photos to come soon...

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Stats	Aroona Valley to Blinman Pools and return via Wild Dog Creek
	Saturday	Sunday	Sunday	Monday
	09/06/2012	10/06/2012	10/06/2012	11/06/2012
	Aroona Valley campsite to the Cascades	The Cascades to Blinman Pools and return	The Cascades to Pigeon Bore	Pigeon Bore to Mt Dib and Mt Dab, return to Pigeon Bore then to Aroona Valley campsite
Distance	19.9km	8.33km	18.93km (total 27.26km Sun)	9.51km
Start Time	8.43am	8.08am	11.33am	10.04am
End Time	2.37pm	10.45am	5.33pm	11.05am
Moving Duration	4h04m	2h0m	4h19m	2h31m
Stationary Duration	1h34m	1h01m	2h09m	36m
Moving Average	4.9km/h		4.4km/h	3.8km/h
Overall Average	3.4km/h		3.1km/h	3.1km/h
Oodometer	19.9km	28.23km	47.2km	56.9km

TRACK NOTES - Aroona Valley to Blinman Pools and return via Wild Dog Creek

Download larger version of track notes

Mt Crawford Forest

A wander through Mt Crawford Forest with the under 40s group from Adelaide Bushwalkers. Hot potatoes on the campfire and warm mushie bananas with infused chocolate, Kate set a high benchmark for our first hike.

SUMMARY - Mt Crawford with ABW u40s group
Start	Hale Conservation Park
End	Lucky Hit Farm
Time	2 days
Distance	27km

Oh, it's true, she cheated with the potatoes and bananas. No-one, well no sane person, would carry 12 potatoes and 12 bananas in their pack into the campsite of the first night for our two day hike. She smuggled them there with her car, caching them away behind a tree. We all approved of her cunning though, smart move.

There were 12 in our group, after the usual formalities of the car shuffle, we hiked our way through the southern end of Hale Conservation Park, somewhere I have never quite seen due to a too-deep river crossing last time I was there. A bit of scrub, a deep valley, a snack and rest on a ridgetop spur looking over the rolling farmland and forest - all very nice. Some of Warren Conservation Park - great scrub and views - then some country laneways, and eerie forest (forest is always good eerie, as the wind gently blows through the pine needles.) It's true, some of the intruders amongst us complained when bits of trail were overgrown, that every plant in Australia was sharp, overly pointy and liable to kill by a slow death of infection or annoyance (who can argue), but we all managed with it.

We camped overnight on the Heysen Trail's Scotts Camp. A nice shelter with water tank, fancy pants toilet (no pants required?), a sweet pine-needled forest floor for a soft mattress beneath the tents, and a nicely set up picnic table and circle of stones for a campfire.

We put the campfire to good use, as the wind came and went, and soft rain fell. The usual alcohol rations were pooled and divied up - no cheating there, it was all carried in. Some served at outside temperature (what's room temperature when you are camping?) and some warmed up, nice work Mark! I barely needed to eat my dinner with baked potatoes from the coals, and our cheese snacks - thanks for supplying the dual use cheese platter board hut-maintaining-people!

We sat around laughing, poking fun at each other and talking the shit, as one-by-one people slid off to their tents, as weary hikers are wont to do. A couple of newbies in our midst - new to hiking in Australia anyway - won the peoples' choice award for both lunch and dinner: fresh salad baguettes, steak on the campfire coals and freshly cooked vegies (who's jealous?).

Sunday morning, after a bit of rousing, we trundled out down the lane, following roads and fire tracks through forest, farmland and into the very nice Cromer Conservation Park. Yes, there were more fence crossings then promised, but it did not dimish from Kate's perfectly scored walk leading.

Not many photos for this one...

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Mawson Plateau traverse

A remote wilderness area in the Northern Flinders Ranges, the Mawson Plateau is almost untouched by people and their activities. There are no roads or tracks, no buildings or fences, and unlike much of the Northern Flinders Ranges, no history of mining.

Mawson Plateau, Northern Flinders Ranges

SUMMARY - Mawson Plateau traverse
Start	Mt Shanahan - northern tip of plateau where Granite Creek meets Hamilton Creek. Dropped off by heli-charter from Arkaroola.
End	Arkaroola
Time	6 days
Distance	90km
Mountain Ranges	Mawson Plateau and broader Northern Flinders Ranges
Topographic maps	1:250 000 scale Frome SH54-10; 1:50 000 scale Yudnamutana 6737-1; 1:50 000 scale Wooltana 6737-2
Pastoral Stations	Mt Freeling Station; Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary

La Nina, one of the weather phenomenons that so drastically affect Australia's weather patterns, brought the gift - as she is wont to do - of a huge downpour of rain to the deserts back in early March. Over five days 247mm fell at Arkaroola. It brought the rain we needed to make this hike possible. There are no rain gauges on the Mawson Plateau, which is a couple days walk north of Arkaroola Village, but it is thought that rainfall on the plateau is similar to the Gammon Ranges, both being of higher elevation than Arkaroola Village, so more rain falls.

Almost all the dirt roads across outback SA were closed in the days after the March deluge, and many had to be graded to be reopened. This kept grader operators busy, so the runway at Moolowatana Station, the first station and servicable runway north of the Mawson Plateau, was still damaged. So like last year, we had to charter a helicopter to drop us out. More expensive, but being able to drop us almost anywhere it saved us two days walking in from Moolowatana Station.

The plateau spans an area seven kilometres wide and 30 kilometres long. The area is littered with large areas of exposed granite, capturing water in numerous rockholes. Granite Creek and its many tributaries drain the plateau, flowing to the north to meet Hamilton Creek before making their way out to Lake Callabonna - one of the many large salt lakes that form a horseshoe around the Northern Flinders Ranges. Its highest point is Freeling Heights, a bluff on the south-western corner of the plateau. Originally the plateau was named Freeling Heights, but was later renamed in honour of Douglas Mawson.

The plateau is largely untouched, it's quite hard to find any sign of human impact. There are no roads or tracks, no buildings or fences, quite possibly no weeds (I've heard tell, I'm no expert), and little impact from feral animals, even goats (which are rampant in the Gammon Ranges to the south.) We found a couple of stardropper stakes in a clearing on our way up to Freeling Heights, marking the site of a government photo survey of vegetation. On stardroppers, one of the waterholes on upper Granite Creek is called Star Dropper Waterhole, so named after the single stardropper there that marks a corner boundary of the Arkaroola and Mount Freeling pastoral leases. We knew of this waterhole, we had seen photos, but did not know its exact location as the pastoral lease boundaries are not usually shown on the topographic maps. We did, unbeknownst to us at the time, see the waterhole on our return from the summit of Freeling Heights. In the back corner of a photo of the waterhole the star dropper can clearly be seen!

A single old track makes a small incursion on the plateau just south west of Mt Shanahan, an old mining track, the type such as litters the Northern Flinders Ranges. Without maintenance these tracks suffer from washaways and soon become undriveable. This one stretched a few hundred metres onto the plateau. It's unusual to hike in the Flinders Ranges somewhere that no 4WD could possibly travel, or has ever travelled.

There were are few other signs of human impact. Behind a rock above the Tee Junction Waterhole, one of the few permanent waterholes on the plateau (after decent rains it is thought to last ten years or so) we found an emergency cache of food and essential items. You know the essential things one might need: coffee, chocolate, cigarettes, toilet paper. From the logbook it seems to have been first placed there by Reg Sprigg in 1987, and has been well stocked since, very little was out of date. As the permanent waterhole, and one of the few named ones, it is a popular spot with hikers to camp at. That said, there were few entries in the logbook, but that may be due to hikers, such as us, not knowing the cache was there; we stumbled upon it on our second night there.

A couple of old stone cairns built by surveyors mark summits, there is one on Mt Shanahan, a summit which seems remarkably insignificant, and on Freeling Heights. Towering drystone structures, they never cease to amaze me in how well the surveryors of old constructed them. The Freeling Heights one, like all good summit cairns, is complete with a logbook of sorts, in this case loose paper in an old jar. Of all the notes in there, and there were not many - it seems there was only one, sometimes two, visits each year. Some year had no visits. Tafe was a common visiting party - the outdoor education course - they also featured quite well in the cache at Tee Junction Waterhole. Up at the Freeling Heights summit there were several cleared campsites, perhaps most clearly noticable by the large slabs of stone that had been carefully positioned to form chairs and even side tables.

The March rains filled all the rockholes, even after seeing so many waterholes we did not grow tired of them. It's hard to imagine what hiking here might look like in drier times. The waterholes were often an obstruction, a few times we had to scramble around them, many times over and around them. There were upsides to this though, by lunchtime on the first day we were already swimming in a vast waterhole. Every day on the plateau featured a good swim.

On our second day we decided to leave Granite Creek, with its many obstructing waterholes. We followed a spurline for two kilometres up to the escarpment edge, from here we had dramatic views over the eastern plains and Lake Frome. Following the escarpment to the south west, the escarpment grew increasingly dramatic. We crossed back across the plateau, which was no easy navigation task, to Granite Creek and its rockholes.

The views from Freeling Heights were also dramatic, we had a very clear day, one of the clearest I have seen up there. We could easily see Mt Painter, which we climbed in 2011, and further south Benbonyathe Hill (2010), Mt McKinlay, Patawarta Hill (2009) - 110km away - and Rawnsley Bluff on Wilpena Pound - 180km away.

On the fourth day we hiked to the escarpment, dropping off 400 metres in elevation down a long spur line to a creek. From here we followed it downstream to the hot springs at Paralana. The days were all hot, and most sunny, and we often sought out the shade of trees, no matter how small. A Paralana Hot Springs we sat in the cool reeds beside the hot flowing spring water. It was here we saw our first people since leaving Arkaroola, a couple visiting the springs in their 4WD. An offer of a cold beer would have been nice. Alas, unrefreshed we hiked on in the hot sun.

We camped beside a waterhole every night, and it was only one night where we forewent a swim, in that case to preserve the water from contamination for drinking. Our last night was possibly the best swim, in Bararranna Waterhole. Here the creek was flowing and the waterhole large, it reminded me of some of the rocky vegetationless gorge waterholes in the Kimberley, it was enormous.

On the sixth day we sidled into Arkaroola, and showers, cool drinks, food and chairs. Ah the things you miss hey.

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TRACK NOTES - Mawson Plateau traverse
Download larger version of track notes
Label	Location	Grid Ref	Time	Note
Sunday 15/04/12
Start	NE of Mt Shanahan	GR 559 770	8.20am drop-off (15min flight from Arkaroola)	on hill NE of where Granite Creek meets Hamilton Creek. Hike along Granite Creek.
1	waterhole on Granite Creek	GR 542 747	12.01/1.05pm	Lunch + swim
2	Break	GR 535 731	2.05pm
3	Turn around - too far	GR 533 726	2.50pm	Gorge narrowing, gorge exit missed
4/Campsite	Campsite day 1	GR 535 731	3.10pm. Day's hike was 9.2km/6hr walk	Camp beside creek on sandy area beside large shallow waterhole
Monday 16/04/12
4	Campsite day 1	GR 535 731	7am	Leave camp, hike up spur to escarpment (5)
5	Escarpment	GR 547 717	7.56am	Follow escarpment to pt 7
6	Break	GR 538 700	8.50/9.18am
7	Leave escarpment edge	GR 520 686	10.35/10.55am	Begin to cross plateau from escarpment edge back to Granite Creek
8	Break	GR 513 682	11.45/11.57am
9	Lunch at head of creek	GR 505 282	12.25/12.55pm
10	Rockholes on Granite Creek	GR 498 681	1.19pm	Lots of rockholes here, continue up creek to point 11
11/Campsite day 2	Tee Junction Waterhole	GR 489 678	2.15pm. Day's hike was 13km & 7h15m	Explored further to tee junction, waterhole a few hundred metres downstream from junction.
Tuesday 17/04/12
11/Campsite day 2	Tee Junction Waterhole	GR 489 678	6.50am	Leave camp with daypacks for hike up to Freeling Heights summit and return to camp here again
12		GR	8.36am	Proceed up southern arm of Granite Creek, contour around to more open flatter area to west. Yes got a little sidetracked turning too far north when cross-country.
13	Clearing	GR 458 665	8.50am	Break in open clearing. Proceed across clearing, then following creek lines to vicinity of 449 655. Proceed up spur to flatter ridge near summit
14	Freeling Heights summit	GR 448 643	10.30/11.10am	Summmit marked by stone surveyors cairn in SW corner of ridge. Numerous campsites near summit, some shady.
15	Clearing	GR 457 664	12.35pm	Lunch. Follow creek lines across clearing and open country. Easiest way is to continue following creeks into major Granite Creek. Last 1.5km into Tee Junction difficult due to waterholes.
11/Campsite day 2 & 3	Tee Junction Waterhole	GR 489 678	2.15pm. Day's hike 16.9km, 5.5hr moving, 7.5hr total	Camp here again for a second night.
Wednesday 18/04/12
11/Campsite day 2 & 3	Tee Junction Waterhole	GR 489 678	7.10am	Leave camp. Proceed up SW branch of Granite Creek to waterfall
12 (oops duplicated)	Waterfall	GR 479 667	8.07am	Contour around hills beside creek, hills clearer than creek here
13 (oops duplicated)	Break, clearing and stand of trees	GR 473 655	9.09/9.27am	Clearing in creek
13 (oops duplicated again)	Escarpment edge	GR 473 650	9.50am	Proceed down long spurline
14 (oops duplicated)	Start of steep spur	GR 478 642	10.28am	Continue down spur, this section is very steep
15 (oops duplicated)	Hot Springs/Paralana Creek	GR 484 630	11.40am/12.20pm	Lunch in creek at base of long spur. Proceed downstream along creek to Paralana Hot Springs.
16	Paralana Hot Springs	GR 499 607	1.45/2.15pm
17	Exit Yudnamatana Creek	GR 483 588	3pm	Proceed up Nicolls Spring Creek, go right at major creek junction after a narrow gorge
18/Campsite day 4	Camp north of Nicholls Spring	GR 482 578	4pm. Day's hike was 17km, 5.5hr moving, 9h overall	Camped beside two-step waterfall, pools of water under each, pink granite rock
Thursday 19/04/12
18/Campsite day 4	Camp north of Nicholls Spring	GR 482 578	7.07am	Proceed up creek
19	Nicholls Spring	GR 477 573		Marginal spring, spent sometime verifying location
20			8am	Spring found, returned to packs, continue following creekline up
21	Head of creek		8.45am	Break. Proceed up to saddle and ridge, skirt around 450m peak, proceed down long spur to East Painter Creek
22	East Painter Creek	GR 457 5444	10.30/10.45am	Break. Follow East Painter Creek downstream to East Painter Bore and tank.
23	Old Mine Track			An easier start to tackling Humanity Seat? No, doubt it, track not long enough.
24			11.30am
25	East Painter bore	GR 479 521	12.00/12.40pm	Bore and tank. Creek enters plains here. Proceed along 4WD track to Paralana Hot Springs road, south past Lady Buxton Mine for 1.25km, turn south-west along an Arkaroola 4WD track past White Ants Mine
26	Top of hill	GR 469 492	1.40pm	A real bastard this track. Why didn't we navigate around it? Continued down track.
27	Creek/Road T-junction		2.20pm	Take south track to Bararranna Waterhole
28/Campsite day 5	Bararranna Waterhole	GR 457 479	3pm. Day's hike was 19km, 5.5hr moving, 7.5hr overall.	Very large waterhole in gorge. Two waterholes at present. Carpark at end of road, but road looks out of service since March rains.
Friday 20/04/12
28/Campsite day 5	Bararranna Waterhole	GR 457 479	6.50am	Leave camp, proceed along track back to Arkaroola, track follows creek
29	Echo Camp Waterhole	GR 429 497	8.10am
30	Arkaroola Bore		9am	Break
31	Arkaroola (reception)	GR 400 455	10.15am. Day's hike was 14km, 3h moving, 3.5h overall

Unfinished Business

We had unfinished business with Mt Aleck, an attempt to summit it in 2009 had failed.

Mt Aleck, Elders Range, Flinders Ranges

Back in 2009, it was a hot October day, over 30 degrees. Today it was cool, sunny winter’s day. Ideal hiking weather.

Back in 2009, we undertook the hike as a day hike. Leaving the car at 7.30am, we gave up on summiting around 1pm, realising we would run out of time. Today we set out from an elevation of 645 metres, yesterday afternoon we hiked up from 385 metres where the car was to our campsite at 645 metres – with plenty of time allocated to do so. Today we set out at 7.30am from our campsite, we summitted by 10.20am in the cool of the day. As the weather warmed we returned to the car, back by 3.15pm.

Back in 2009, we ran very short on water. This time we took extra water and left it under a tree on the flats, there as a contingency for camping a second night.

Back in 2009 we used a Wild article as a route plan. This time we used that as a broad guideline, and interpreting the contours on the topographic map made our own route plan, shorter and easier.



It’s arguable that 2009 was a reconnaissance trip for today’s hike, what we learned from that we put into a carefully calculated plan with a number of contingencies. We didn’t need to use any of the contingencies, the excellent weather lent itself to pulling the plan off within the allocated timeframes.

By continuing due west from the Umberutna ruins rather than skirting around to the north, we saved some distance in exchange for a short, steep - but quite manageable - climb. This led to a valley in which we selected the best creek to climb from, south of the first saddle. Back in 2009 we had gone up a very steep creek to the north of the first saddle. It had been tough climbing, there couldn’t have been a greater contrast with the creek we went up this time.



We had left Adelaide early Friday morning. Our afternoon plan was to climb that 260 metres above the plains to our chosen campsite. It was cool and windy. In Hawker it had been cold, I feared we would have a miserable night at such an elevation, but we had a fire on the sheltered side of the hill. We could have camped higher, on the first saddle, but it would have been very tough climbing up there each carrying out pack with a tent, sleeping bag and food. Light as they were – around 15kg - it would have been tough. Our campsite had a stunning setting. Behind us lay the sawtooth escarpment cliffs of the Elder Range, before us the valleys between the Elder Range and Wilpena Pound. We were treated to a spectacular sunset, and an equally spectacular sunrise the following morning, albeit after a very cold night.



Early the following morning, with the whole day before us, we started the steep climb, following an escarpment cliff, to the first saddle. In only 20 minutes we were on the saddle, this route was so much quicker than our route of 2009. From here, we climbed and descended each ridge along the sawtooth escarpment, sticking closely to the escarpment edge. We had learned only too well back in 2009 that it was much easier to stick to the open rocky escarpment edge, rising up and down the sawtooth profile, than to try the flatter route contouring around each peak. The vegetation makes it slow going, the spinifex made it quite unpleasant. The vegetation was considerably denser this time compared to 2009, since then there had been two wet summers. Last time there was very little shade on the ridges, this time there was plenty provided by the two to three metre shrubs.

By the time we reached the third saddle, we had spotted a cairn looking structure atop what might be the summit of Mt Aleck. It seemed impossible that the summit was that close. It was a little askew, so we weren't certain it was a summit cairn. However after another tough climb, we could see the unmistakable cairn ahead, and it was an easy to matter to close off that last distance. The cairn was indeed an interesting one, carefully perched atop the highest point of the mountain.

Leafing through the summit logbook, we were only the second group on the summit this year (2011). The previous year, 2010, saw no visitors, and 2009 just one. Yes, there was a pencil in the logbook container.

Our hike times had been perfect to the plan. There were a couple of sections along the sawtooth ridge that were particularly tough, dense vegetation with no escarpment route. We tried one shortcut, but it was woefully time consuming.

We retraced our steps back to the campsite. Even though we summitted by 11am, it was quickly getting warm. Yesterday had been a cloudy day, with strong wind and a few drops of rain. Today had been glorious, clear skies and warm sun, a thankful relief from the winds of the previous day and the cold night. From our campsite we descended back down the steep line to a saddle, down a steep creek onto the flats to collect our water drop. We walked back to Umberutna ruins, and along the Heysen Trail to the car, and on to the pub at Hawker for a celebratory beer and meal.

1st August: Some hikers have since told me of an easier route. Proceed up either of the scree chutes close to the summit. We debated doing this, but we never got close enough to the bottom of the chute to see how it started. It's steep, but quick.

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Track as displayed in map above: • Download GPX file • Download KML file Track consolidated into best route: • Download GPX file • Download KML file Use the GPX file as a navigational aid in a GPS unit Use the KML file to view in Google Earth

Download route marked on topo map, including times: PDF map

* The stats for the second day are divided into the ascent and descent.

Stats	Mt Aleck
	Friday	Saturday	Saturday
	15/7/2011	16/7/2011	16/7/2011
	Moralana Scenic Drive up to campsite	campsite up to Mt Aleck summit	Mt Aleck summit down to Moralana Scenic Drive
Start Elevation	385m	645m	1095m
End Elevation	645m	1095m	385m
Distance	7.45km	2.9km	10.49km
Start Time	12.25pm	7.30am	10.50am
End Time	3.15pm	10.20am	3.15pm
Moving Duration	1h51m	1h41m	3h19m
Stationary Duration	59m	1h12m	2h08m
Moving Average	4.0km/h	1.7km/h	3.1km/h
Overall Average	2.6km/h	1.0km/h	1.9km/h
Oodometer	7.45km	10.4km	20.8km

Three lil' hikes

Three lil' hikes - with steep hills - led by Simon

Three recent afternoon hikes which Simon led, we enjoyed some sunshine and rain and exploring some of the hills, and, of course, some tough hills.

Sturt Gorge

Sunday 19 June 2011

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Cleland Conservation Park

Sunday 26 June 2011
Found a tough new hill.

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Gandys Gully

Saturday 11 July 2011

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